Dropping knowledge

dropping knowledge e.V. is a German non-profit organization that aims to foster discussion of the world's social and environmental problems. Founded in 2003, the organization's main project started in September 2005 by collecting questions on its website followed by a large discussion in Berlin on 9 September 2006.Am runden Tisch mit Bianca Jagger; Fragen über Fragen: Die Initiative "Dropping Knowledge" will am Samstag in Berlin die Probleme der großen weiten Welt wälzen. "Frankfurter Rundschau", 6 September 2006. de icon]

The organization was founded by German film maker Ralf Schmerberg, American film maker Cindy Gantz, and American activist Jackie Wallace, originally as a response to the Iraq War, but from its inception aimed to be more than a mere "anti-movement" [Answers to the world's biggest problems. "UPI", 8 September 2006] : an interactive platform and meeting place for initiatives around the world.

The nine hour discussion, named The Table of Free Voices and overseen by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, used a large round table on the Bebelplatz in Berlin. 112 international artists, philosophers, scientists and human rights activists were invited to simultaneously answer 100 selected questions, recorded by 112 cameras and microphones. [http://www.welt.de/print-wams/article87352/Gandhi_Ich_bin_doch_nicht_mal_Inder.html "Gandhi? Ich bin doch nicht mal Inder"; Ralf Schmerberg.] "Welt am Sonntag", 3 September 2006. de icon] The questions were read out loud by moderators Hafsat Abiola and Willem Dafoe. [http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/artikel/254/85169/ Die Murmelrunde] . "Süddeutsche Zeitung", 11 September 2006. de icon] Prominent participents included Cornel West, Bianca Jagger, Hans-Peter Dürr, John Gage, Bill Joy, Harry Wu and Wim Wenders.

A planned life webcast of the event did not take place because of a computer glitch. [ROUNDUP: Webcast of Berlin online discussion on social issues. "Deutsche Presse-Agentur", 9 September 2006.] Transcripts and videos were later released on the project's website under a copyleft license, organized in a "Living Library" developed by the "Deutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz in Saarbrücken" (German Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence).

The cost of the event was 5 million Euros; initial funding came from the Wallace Foundation, [ [http://www.taz.de/index.php?id=archivseite&dig=2006/08/23/a0082 Ein runder Tisch fürs Weltbürgertum] , "TAZ", 23 August 2006. de icon] the Allianz insurance company contributed 2.7 million Euro in 2005, and Volkswagen also made a sizable donation. [http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/artikel/920/83837/ Ich frag’ ja nur] , "Sueddeutsche Zeitung", 29 August 2006. de icon]

dropping knowledge has also produced and is distributing several short films, all under the "dropping knowledge Copyleft License" which places some restrictions on commercial use: it forbids to use the content for commercial advertising. [ [http://www.droppingknowledge.org/web/pdf/Dropping_Knowledge_Copyleft_License.pdf Dropping Knowledge Copyleft License] , dropping knowledge e.V. Retrieved 21 August 2008.]

Participants

*Yassin Adnan
*Martin Almada
*Udi Aloni
*Ekaterina Moshaeva
*Homero Aridjis
*Mohammed Arkoun
*Anthony Arnove
*Jwan M. Aziz
*Rodrigo Baggio
*Dedi Baron
*Mark Benecke
*Ana Lucy Bengochea
*Sihem Bensedrine
*Roland Berger
*Abbas Beydoun
*Andries Botha
*Kamal Boullata
*Tania Brugera
*Donato Bayu Bay Bumacas
*Gladman Chibememe
*Robbie Conal
*Bora Cosic
*Catherine David
*Hans-Peter Dürr
*Steve Earle
*Rachid ElDaif
*Sabiha El-Zayat-Erbakan
*Jodie Evans
*Benjamin Fahrer
*Raymond Federman
*Giora Feidman
*Viviana Figueroa
*John Gage
*Ashok Gangadean
*Susan George
*Eddie Glaude
*Jonathan Granoff
*Jesper Green
*Nadja Halilbegovich
*Govindaswamy Hariramamurthi
*Mae-Wan Ho
*Lillian Holt
*Kigge Hvid
*Pico Iyer
*Bianca Jagger
*Bill Joy
*Dritëro Kasapi
*China Keitetsi
*Audrey Kitagawa
*Takashi Kiuchi
*Paul Knight
*Anuradha Koirala
*Song Kosal
*Michael Laitman
*Ervin Laszlo
*Tegla Lhamo
*Fang Lijun
*Tegla Loroupe
*Geert Lovink
*Angaangaq Lyberth
*Sohrab Mahdavi
*Livingstone Maluleke
*Jerry Mander
*Neela Marikkar
*Fred Matser
*Jonathan Meese
*Mayank R. Mehta
*Valentina Melnikova
*Paul D. (aka DJ Spooky) Miller
*Anuradha Mittal
*Esther Mwaura-Muiru
*Helena Norberg-Hodge
*Oscar Olivera
*Vesna Pesic
*Mohau Pheko
*Leung Ping-Kwan
*Sydney Possuelo
*Eliane Potiguara
*Swami Pragyapad
*José Manuel Prieto
*Avi Primor
*Wolfram Putz
*Monira Rahman
*Lesego Rampolokeng
*Alvaro Restrepo
*Simon Retallack
*Stephanie Robinson
*Santiago Roncagliolo
*Masuma Bibi Russel
*Elisabet Sahtouris
*Masami Saionji
*Kailash Satyarthi
*Beverly Schwartz
*Norbert Servos
*Mahsa Shekarloo
*Sulak Sivaraksa
*Tavis Smiley
*Fernando Solanas
*Thenmozhi Soundararajan
*Timothy Speed
*Tamas St. Auby
*Jonathan Stack
*Pauline Tangiora
*Michael E. Tigar
*Oliviero Toscani
*Michael P. Totten
*Galsan Tschinag
*Benson Venegas
*Constantin von Barloewen
*Sima Wali
*Kurt Weidemann
*Tu Weiming
*Eliot Weinberger
*Brian J. Weller
*Wim Wenders
*Cornel West
*Harry Wu
*Shaobin Yang
*Irina Yasina
*Sanar Yurdatapan

References

External links

* [http://www.droppingknowledge.org www.droppingknowledge.org] , official web site
* [http://www.droppingknowledge.org/bin/static/list/about_us_press_reports.page Press coverage of The Table of Free Voices]